Night Markets

A few Fridays ago I went to the Twilight Hawkers Markets in Forrest Place with my half sister Maddi and David. I'd been looking for something fun to do with Maddi while she was visiting from Melbourne and I thought I'd hit the nail on the head. Unluckily for me Maddi is EXCEPTIONALLY picky, but she managed to find one or two things she was brave enough to try.
We all tried the crowd-favourite spiral potato, but I also went for my old favourite satay chicken skewers. David tried a spicy mango icy-pole and we tucked into some Colombian stew. We finished the night off with some de-lish Polish donuts.

  

 

What struck me about the markets was the fact that finally my beloved city-centre was being utilised for something fantastic. I love being in the city at night, but since growing up a bit I've found myself going less and less because I don't go out drinking or clubbing anymore.
Visiting the Perth Arena on its opening night was such a treat to walk around the city and watch the people enjoy the space. Now Forrest Place is being opened up for families to bring their kids along, enjoy some new food and just be a part of something bigger.

The mood was relaxed, even though the lines were long people didn't mind because there was so much to see around them. Having a live band makes you feel like you're going to an event, rather than just a meal. My only criticism would be there's not much space to actually eat the food because the lines are so long. Visiting a similar market in Melbourne last month there was plenty of room to tuck in at tables but I'm sure some clever planning person will figure that out soon enough.

I think what I was happiest about was the fact that there is some logic in creating something for people to actually come to town for, not just shopping. It was packed and people were enjoying being out in the warm night sharing some dinner together. I'm truly excited for what's going to happen over the next few years when the rail goes underground and we can all come in and enjoy our city together.

Big Help Mob: Cleaning Crusade

On Sunday I joined four very enthusiastic superheroes for a few hours hard yakka, cleaning up the entire house of a Warnbro gentleman who needed a bit of a hand. Greg's got paraplegia and he needs to move into a house which is more suitable for him to look after, but before he can he has to get his current property looking a bit more spick and span. That's where Big Help Mob superheroes stepped in to help out!

We spent from about 10 in the morning til just before 4 cleaning walls, roofs, the kitchen, bathroom, outside, inside, EVERYTHING!

Greg was a really likeable guy and I won't lie, the work wasn't easy but it was fun. I've been volunteering for the BHM communications team for a couple of months, but I haven't been on a mission since the launch of the app so it was great to break free of the shackles of Useful HQ and actually do a bit of manual labour. Having David there was a blast, but it was nice chatting to the other girls as well, learning bits and pieces about them (we even had a Rockingham local in the group!) and getting on with it.

The girls who were at Cleaning Crusade have all joined up to be Unterns this summer, a project I'm really excited to see take shape. They were all lovely girls as well so they will be fantastic ambassadors for all things BHM and hopefully I'll have a brand new project to share him which will introduce them a bit further.

 David hard at work

 Bedroom cleaning

 More bedroom cleaning

 Kitchen cleaning

Vacuum boy

Good things this week:
Seeing ma gurrrrrrrrrrl (and half sister) Maddi and learning all about her YouTube boyfriend
A visit from Phoebe and her beautiful little babby Harper
Going to the physio again

Bad things this week:
Tensions headaches=day off work=lack of stories=frustration=MORE TENSION :)
Running out of time/money to get Christmas presents
Too many treats last weekend

Instagram yarns

Kwinana's biggest fan

Before I started working in Rockingham I knew very little about the area. One of the best things about doing a cadetship down here is getting to know the area as well as the people. One of the area's I've come to enjoy spending a lot of time in is the Town of Kwinana, which I'm happy to report is soon to become the City of Kwinana.

My front page about Kwinana becoming a city

Made up of suburbs like Bertram, Medina, Calista, Parmelia, Leda and Wellard, as well as the well known industrial strip, Kwinana is growing like you wouldn't believe and before this job I basically hadn't even been to Kwinana before.

I'd driven though on the way to Mandurah but never actually made the turn off down Thomas Road and into the suburbs.

But what I've found while I've been visiting Kwinana is really surprising and really enlightening.

A beautiful tree in Parmelia

The bushland around Kwinana is absolutely beautiful. I love driving the long winding roads through the once-rural areas like Wellard and Bertram. If you get high enough up in the hills in Parmelia you can see right out to the Darling scarp and when weather rolls in it's spectacular.

Storm clouds over Bertram

I've had a fair bit to do with Kwinana council now having covered their meetings since I began here and although I'm the first to admit I don't have much to compare them to I've so far been impressed.

Mayor Carol Adams is deeply passionate about the area and her enthusiasm is palpable. The councillors are all equally as enthusiastic and are all keen to see Kwinana succeed and move forward.

What I'm longwindedly trying to say is that it's not often you go to an area that you've never lived in or don't currently live in and feel such a connection with it.

Filled with people who generally want to see the area succeed, I'm excited to see what Kwinana achieves in the coming years and look forward to covering it.

Terça-feira

My first job today was with the Rockingham/Kwinana Men of the Trees.

 Their base is down a tight bush track through the Rockingham Golf Course and if I hadn't been running late I would have enjoyed the drive much more.

They're having a sale in a few weeks to try and get rid of excess stock. All native plants which are conducive to the area, like this little beauty. 

It absolutely bucketed down again today, with beautiful breaks of coastal sunshine. I got drenched in a downpour when I was leaving the Rockingham Council Chambers this afternoon after a job, but since I only had the drive back up the Kwinana Fwy ahead of me I didn't mind.

Calm before.....

 ....the downpour

Rainbow over Rockingham

This is a snap I took last week of the principal of the new Baldivis Secondary College. 

I really like it because the colours are great, the lines are interesting thanks to the building and he was a really nice fellow with a lovely smile. 

Today was a typical cruisey Tuesday. A few jobs, but no deadline meaning things are a little less insane. Tomorrow brings a Kwinana Council Meeting so it's a late start but I've started to looking forward to my fortnightly visits to Kwinana. 

Catcha. 

FARRAGO

I bet you're probably sick of the changes of 'theme' through this blog? Well I was going to write an apology post as I sat at my desk today thinking about what to write for an almighty comeback. But then I thought..........Nah I can't apologise for the mangled themes, the all-over-the-shop nature of this ongoing piece of word-vomit I heave up onto the internet. I can't apologise because it's me.
Flaky, lackadaisical, jumbled and inconsistent, but only in the sense you can't catch me every week. My friends will tell you I'm a terror to catch-up with. Only the things which I consider daily or weekly necessities become as such, and everything else....well you're lucky if you catch me. But it doesn't mean I don't care. It doesn't mean I'm not thinking about the other things/people/tasks I should be thinking about/seeing/doing. I can't apologise for the way I am because the things that are important come back around to me and the people who are important stick by me. The preamble is now finished and with that I welcome you to Pretty Set All Set Mach II, blog 2.0, the next phase.

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In the last period of creative and productive outpourings here I was lamenting my state of affairs. Having graduated I was without gainful employment (in the field I desired at least) and I was going to use this platform to track my journey.

Well that was a giant failure because here I am four months into a cadetship at a newspaper and I haven't written one single post. Not one post telling anyone how life on the other side of uni/getting a read job is.

Excuse #1 I'm really busy: Seriously though, I am.
Excuse #2 I have a boyfriend who I give pretty much all of my spare time to.
Excuse #3 Writing all day at work makes it very difficult to come home inspired.

OK EXCUSES DONE!! Here's the plan now. I'm going to take you with me in my new life as a baby journalist.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
I work for a newspaper in Rockingham.
The two publications we produce cover Rockingham, Kwinana, Mandurah and the surrounding suburbs.
I have days where I love my job and I'm grateful I took that chance and swapped unis.
I also have days where I question every decision I ever made and think I should throw in the towel, to back to uni to study teaching, law, ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THIS. But luckily those days aren't every day.
This will not just be about work and I'm sorry to never be able to pick a theme but I can't.
The theme is Sophie. Sophie and what she does. Starting today.


August 6 2012. 
Today was deadline day. It was fairly calm considering our editor is on holidays (although the news half way through the day that he'd broken his foot and might not be back for a while was more than a little concerning. It rained basically all day, but not before I got to head out to take a snap of the Mayor of Kwinana, the GM of the Global Good Foundation and The Liberal Candidate for Brand.

Big kid

Two can't live withouts

 

A little thank you from a contact

Welcome to sunny Rockingham

The ladies.

I'll see you tomorrow x

Big Help Mob- Dune'ing Good

It's amazing what some people will do for a pretty face....


I really didn’t want to spend my Sunday on a beach weeding stupid plants out of a stupid sand dune, but I knew it would be a good thing to do since my boyfriend spends so much time with these “Big Help Mobbers”. He seemed pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing and even though he never ‘forced’ me to sign up, I knew I’d be a pretty bad bloke if I didn’t. So I did. But that certainly didn’t mean I was going willingly or graciously.

To preface, Big Help Mob in their own words are “on a mission to make volunteering as mainstream as cheeseburgers and breathing.” If I may be so bold as to paraphrase, they encourage young people who probably don’t volunteer normally to volunteer by making volunteering seem not so much a chore but a cool, fun thing to do. When I first heard about it through the aforementioned boyfriend I thought it sounded kinda lame. A big call I know but at least I can be honest right? So how then did I find myself bright and early on a Sunday morning lining up for a bus to Brighton Beach surrounded by a number of hollering and hooting Big Help Mobbers to join in in a day’s work of weeding? It’s funny what some people will do for a pretty face.


The day itself went pretty well from what I could gage. We weeded heaps, everyone seemed to have a smile on their face the whole day and the group we were working with, North Stirling Coast Care, seemed really pleased with the work we’d done at the end of the day. There were about 50 young volunteers on the dunes and it was quite a sight to watch everyone scrambling around trying to pull out as many weeds as they could without getting too sunburnt/dehydrated/tempted by the irritatingly beautiful beach a mere 50 metres away.

I’m the exact type of person Big Help Mob try to attract. I’m semi socially-aware, I care about my community to a certain extent but I’ve never actually tried to volunteer in any way that didn’t benefit me personally, firstly because I never knew how/where etc to do so, and secondly because I’m full-on lazy. I’m not too proud to admit I signed up for a reason that did benefit me personally though- Brownie points (boyfriend was pleased).

What surprised me was as the day wore on and I found myself (shock) actually enjoying the work, proving I was an OK bloke meant less to me than actually doing what I was there for. It wasn’t a life-changing “I’m now altruist and I will live my life by this mantra” moment, but it did feel good to actually partake in something concrete that is helping someone who’s not me or someone I really care about. And I think that’s the difficulty in attracting people in my age bracket to do work like this. It’s not life-changing or earth-shattering, but it’s highly beneficial for the people you’re helping.


I think (and I’m speaking in HUGE generalisations so forgive me) my generation (yeahhh iGen) has a huge degree of cynicism about volunteering and donating to charity etc because it’s so intangible. Yeah sure I could give you some of my money but I have no idea where it’s ACTUALLY going do I? Big Help Mob have managed to find a way to give people who would actually like to do something meaningful with their time an opportunity to do so with something tangible. At the end of the day we could actually see the piles of weeds and we had a concrete figure on how much work we’d done (we’d pulled out as many weeds as Stirling North Coast Care would’ve done in a month). As I’ve mentioned, it wasn’t earth-shattering but it helped. And I sort of feel that’s the whole of point of stuff like this- you might not be able to change the entire world but you can help at least someone else and that counts.

See Big Help Mob's Website or Facebook for their next event.

Pics c/o Kristen Barker

KONY 2012: A Reaction

I didn’t watch it at first. I hit play on Youtube when it was posted to me through a Facebook chat, but it was late and I was tired. I said I’d watch it the next day, thinking it was a small enough lie to tell. 29 minutes to dedicate to Youtube....not even Kanye got that amount of Youtube time from me.


The next day I woke up and 2 people had already shared it when I flicked through Facebook on my phone before getting out of bed. When I looked at Facebook again at the coffee shop before work another 4 had shared it. By the afternoon my stream was awash. But I was at work and I still didn’t have time to look at it. We discussed it briefly during my shift. One girl said she’d watched it and was really impressed. When I got home my housemate told me I had to watch it. My other housemate said he didn’t want to. When my housemate explained who this man was I started to remember some of the things I had learnt in a class I took last year. I started to realise why he seemed so familiar. I was one of those people who had heard about Kony and the ICC and forgotten about him.

The next day I woke up and a lot more than 2 people had shared it when I flicked through Facebook on my phone before getting out of bed. It was on news websites now, it was on the radio as well and it was filling up my Twitter feed. But I was still at work. And I still couldn’t be bothered.

So at 7.50pm 2 days after I had first encountered the video I thought “fuck it”, I’ve got some time to kill. I hit ‘X’ on iTunes playing my favourite podcast, pulled a pillow up behind me and searched for “Kony 2012” on YouTube.

I wasn’t as emotionally moved as I thought I would be. Usually I’m a sucker for hyper-emotional propaganda. But this wasn’t making me cry. It was making me interested though. I wasn’t as cynically distant as I thought I would be either. In the 2 days before I watched the video I already decided I wouldn’t like it or I wouldn’t “respond well” to it as so often is my catch-cry. I still don’t know that I responded well, but I definitely responded.

Straight away I bought into the cool of the video. The guy who made it seemed so cool. He has a cool son, the young people being active in the video are cool. They’re doing cool stuff like putting up posters and wearing cool bracelets. I want to be like those people. I want to wear a cool t-shirt with a cool slogan that is more meaningful than “That Sh#t Cray” and I want to be like Shepard Fairey and do cool meaningful things. I didn’t 40 minutes ago, but I do now. And it’s beautifully easy.

For a long time I’ve been anti “getting-involved” because I saw it as a commitment to something that you could be caught out on if you don’t truly believe in the cause. But this video makes an excellent point; committing to this cause is easy. It’s as easy as sharing a video, or saying someone’s name, or wearing a bracelet. You literally don’t even have to move to be involved in this.

What’s struck me most about this video is how I can finally identify how important social networking is going to be as a part of global politics. In my years of fretting over the impact social media and social networking is going to have on my own life, I lost sight of the impact it will have on everyone else on the planet’s life as well.

If the video upset me about anything, it was the fact that it was highly America-centric and I don’t live in America, so why would I try to reach out to American politicians. But it made a point. A point that knowledge and awareness are one thing, but sometimes we lazy human beings need a kick up the ass to remember those horrific things that are too easy to ignore.

Am I going to monetarily buy into Kony 2012? I don’t know yet. Is it bad that I am still just a little bit cynical about the whole thing? Maybe. But should I just let the considerations and analysis go for a little while and maybe just let myself get involved in something that does really only involve trying to help other people? Yeah, I guess I should.

New Yarns

Well I apologise for the long time between drinks! I would like to say it's because I've been so outrageously busy, I just simply haven't had a minute to update. And to a large extent that's sort of, almost true!

THINGS THAT ARE GOOD:
I got a semi journalism gig. Sort of. Well not sort of.
I applied for a match reporter gig with Football West, and I got it! I get to cover a state league game each weekend and do the weekly wrap of the women's league! I'm stoked! I got more hours at work, so I had been envisaging doing at least some sort of volunteer/part time writing for someone in some facet. This gig means I get to write about something I'm actually interested in....and I get paid!

I got more hours at work. Although a few months ago this would have depressed me beyond no end, at the moment it's exciting me because I've moved into a new area, and the work is actually OK. It's canvassing new motors/boats/caravans/trucks clients and working with existing ones and truth be told, I'm sort of enjoying it. It's giving me some routine and my boss is lovely.

Jenny's taking me to Sydney in May. She has to go to a seminar with one of her magistrate buddies so they're taking their daughters along for the ride! Her magistrate buddy is also her best buddy whose daughter is my age and we grew up together (her name is Sophie as well) so we get to join our mums for a few days in Sydney. Stoked. (Jenny is mum by the way).

Spain is looking likely now. (Again, thanks Mum). It's Jenny's 50th this year, and in true Jenny style she's going to Spain to celebrate. I'm going as well, but because of the lack of $$$/not having a real job I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go. Now I figure I can because if this football yarn works out I'm happy to stay where I work at the moment because I like it. Which means I can save and I can get the time off. Brilliant!

I've started pilates/the gym doesn't suck. It's weird how much people aren't lying when they say exercise is good for you.

I'm writing again. Not as much. Or as often. But it's a start.

I'm graduating on Sunday. I'm suddenly looking forward to it.

I started a funny tumblr with Steph about Yarns

THINGS THAT ARE BAD:
It's too hot
Chelsea aren't doing THAT well
The garden needs tending too
I have been watching far too much Australian Open.

That last one is a joke. There's no such thing as too much Australian Open.

WELCOME 2012

Hello! Welcome to this new year of adventure and excitement.
I hope I'm finding you well, fully refreshed from the festive season. Perhaps you had some time off work, if not maybe you just got to take some time out and relax for a while. I certainly did and I enjoyed myself very much. I almost feel ready to tackle this brand new year. Almost.

Who am I kidding, I'm totally ready! I'm excited that "next year" is here and I can now surge forward and actually do things!

UPDATE: I have now officially applied for 3 whole jobs! Wowowowowowowow. I sent off an application yesterday for a copy-writing position after days of fretting over this stupid cover letter. A friend of mine is going through a similar process at the moment and we have been lamenting how terrible writing cover letters is. So I thought I'd take a bit of time out to have a think about cover letters and what they mean in this whole exercise.

The hardest part (as so often is the case in these instances) is starting. "I have recently graduated from Edith Cowan University with a communications degree majoring in journalism and broadcasting." BOOORRIIINGGG. I mean, what I'm saying is the truth, but it's tremendously boring truth.

Usually it takes me about 20-30 cumulative minutes before I reach that "ohhhh yeahhhh" moment when I realise I'm starting to hit the nail on the head in terms of my appropriateness for the job. I'll write a few sentences that I just think 'yeh man you're killing this' and soon I'll be reading the whole letter and know that this is the best it's going to get. There's something innately upsetting about summing yourself up in a few sentences and hoping someone you don't even know likes the sound of it. I know this is all part of the job-seeking process, but they never set you up for this at uni. There's never any classes on how much writing cover letters sucks, or how to not freak out about your own self-worth before going to a job interview.

But one thing at a time, and I'm finding that now that my resume is as good as it's going to get for the time being, the cover letters I write are going to be the be all and end all of actually obtaining full time, meaningful employment.

I don't really have any advice, other than to read the job description closely. Firstly it will tell you if you're going to have any sort of chance at actually obtaining said job, but it also will make it much clearer what sort of stuff you should be saying in your letter. Ultimately your letter just needs to lay out the basics, who are you, what are your qualifications and why are you going to be good at this specific job. That's the reason I write a new cover letter for every job I apply for. If you regurgitate the same stock standard letter it is really obvious, and you probably won't write anything that will be position-specific. If you at least attempt to write a new one, you'll probably find yourself enjoying the process a bit more. Or maybe you'll just be like me and end up watching Secret Diary of a Call Girl instead of focusing.


Things I've done in the last few weeks which will help:
1: Set up the Zealous Chang Facebook page/Twitter/Myspace. Zealous Chang is my housemate/his mates band and Jimmy, the brains of the band, has kindly let me be 'administrator' of their social media pages.

Things I've done in the last few weeks which won't help:
1. Everything.